From May 10th – May 19th in 2015, the dates are the same forward and backwards, exciting mathematicians and systematic people alike. Because May is the fifth month and the year is 2015, the number 5 lines up perfectly.

See for yourself:

5/10/15

5/11/15

5/12/15

5/13/15

5/14/15

5/15/15

5/16/15

5/17/15

5/18/15

5/19/15

They’re all the same, whether you read the date forward or backward, therefore epitomizing a palindrome. A palindrome is usually used in terms of words or a phrase which is spelled the same forward or backwards. For example, “Hannah” or “racecar”.

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A palindrome can also be a phrase, and the longest English palindromic phrase is said to have 17,259 words. It is jibberish though – for it doesn’t have to make sense, it just has to be the same forwards and backwards! The longest single palindromic word in the English language has 12 letters.

Interestingly, single letter words such as “a” or “I” are also considered to be palindromes.

This “palindrome week” phenomenon is set to happen again in June of 2016, beginning with 6/10/16.